Hello!

Picked up a 2015 cx-5 yesterday with 3k miles on it. It has the 2.5l in it and we will be towing a 700 pound pop-up tent trailer. After the vehicle is all loaded up including passengers we should be averaging 1100lbs. I want to add a transmission cooler and a wix in line filter.
Would you recommend the factory cooler over an aftermarket plate and fin cooler?

I tried to search around to find an answer but didn't come across what the factory cooler part number is or if it exists. It looks like a lot of you are happy towing with this vehicle though!

Any and all info is welcome of course, thanks!

 

You're not going to find a Mazda accessory cooler for this or any other vehicle. You'll have to look elsewhere.

 

Ah, makes sense why I couldn't track down a part number. Thanks!

So the CX-5 is rated to tow 2000lb with the stock transmission cooler? Seems like that would wear the transmission out quick.

I'll go with an aftermarket solution for the trans cooler and will toss in an inline filter as well. Thanks! I'm looking forward to putting some miles on this vehicle.

 

I used to have one of those 7(50) pound tent trailers which I pulled with my 4 cyl Nissan Frontier and hardly knew it was there. If it were me, I'd assume that Mazda built enough durability into the drivetrain to accommodate a load of little more than half their specified maximum. You might also consider what warranty ramifications there might be if you have a transmission failure with the modifications you are contemplating.

 

How often do you tow? & for what distance?

 

That's a good point, I'm not used to having a warranty. I'll need to call and see if adding a trans cooler & filter would affect warranty. Thanks!

 

It's hard to say. I don't have much towing experience and I didn't tow much with the previous car because we were almost right at the limit. I would guess that we will tow more often since we have a vehicle that's more capable of it now.

With that being said, I would guess we will be towing about 6 to 10 times per year. Mostly 30 to 40 miles each way with the occasional 100 mile (one way) trip.

 

You should be fine, but if you are really concerned, just change the trans fluid more often. You could also do the smell test and look at the color to see if it is burning the fluid.

 

I pull about 700 lbs. I bought a scanguage and set it to read engine coolent temp. The idea was that if I saw the temp rising beyond the normal thurmastat control I could adjust my speed or even my route. I have not had any problem at all.

 

Trans coolers are pretty typical additions to vehicles that will see any type of large transmission loads - heavy towing, lots of climbing, off road use, even lots of stop and go traffic. I can't see that a cooler would void your warranty unless the install is botched in some way? I added one to my jeep in the past and the transmission went 3x longer without any issues than it did without the cooler. You get a pretty good ROI on something like that IMO.